Identity Crisis
by Apology Accepted
Summary: After Orochimaru mucks around with his seal in the Forest of Death, Naruto discovers another set of memories in his head that could change everything. Rewrite of LightningHunter's Newfound Memories
1. Chapter 1

Naruto stumbled groggily around the campsite, having been woken rather rudely by his teammates.

"What the hell's been going on?" he cursed, still blinking blearily before he walked straight into Sakura.

'Kushina?' he thought his eyes still bleary from sleep. He rubbed his eyes forcing them to better focus on the young girl before him. 'Nah, this isn't Kushina, this kid's got pink hair, not red...kid? What's wrong with me.'

Naruto continued stumbling over his thoughts and feet. 'Who the hell is Kushina?' He mentally pondered, the name ached of familiarity but nothing seems to lend itself to where such a thought came from unwittingly increasing frustration.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" said Sakura impatiently. "Everyone's already gone."

"Who's gone?" Naruto asked as he returned to reality. Though he still couldn't help the strange thoughts that tugged at his conscious. He gave himself a good slap across the cheek for good measure.

"Stop you're hitting yourself you idiot!" growled Sakura barely restraining herself from joining in with a slap of her own.

"You know, I don't think hitting me to stop me hitting myself is a brilliant idea," mumbled Naruto, eyes focused on her clenched fist. "So, where's the bastard?"

Naruto was promptly smashed straight into the ground. "For the last time don't call Sasuke that."

"And? Would you prefer it if I called into question his gender preference? Actually nevermind I have quite a few jokes for that one, please continue."

"Naruto, if you're saying what I think- wait, what?" said Sakura. "Did I hit you too hard or something?"

Naruto blinked and looked back at the crater she had managed to create. "You hit me the same as usual. Think I'm starting to become impervious to the damn things by now."

"There you go again!" said Sakura, before turning. "Sasuke, hurry!"

Presently, the Uchiha survivor reappeared. "What?" he asked irritably unable to hide it under his usual calm facade. It seemed recently he was having more trouble than usual keeping his cool. Naruto suspected it had something to do with the beating they had taken yesterday but then again it hadn't exactly been there first and he doubted someone as tough as Sasuke would crack so easy.

"It's an imposter!" Sakura cried.

The blonde's eyes widened and he did a quick once over of Sasuke a second time. It would explain his attitude but...well it shouldn't be too hard to be sure and Sakura was the best with genjutsu.

"Sasuke activate your Sharingan now and copy this!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and frowned at the command but nonetheless obeyed eyes flashing red with a pained grunt.

Naruto selected a Jutsu he knew the black-haired boy wouldn't know and began to sign through it as quickly as possible. He wasn't sure he could go fast enough that a normal genin couldn't follow it but he tried his best knowing the Sharingan would be able to follow either way.

'Shuriken Style: Shadow clone Jutsu.' Naruto thought as he finished and quickly removed a shuriken from his pouch throwing it with infused chakra he watched carefully as Sasuke mimicked him exactly.

"Alright well, that confirms it you are certainly Sasuke."

The boy nodded half-heartedly his gaze remaining on the extra shuriken as they poofed away. "Incredible." He mumbled.

"No, it proves there's no way your NARUTO he's never used that before and Kakashi never taught us it!" Sakura said her hands clutching at a kunai.

Naruto's eyes widen in surprise. Where had he learned that?

Sasuke seemed to of returned to the conversation with, "Hn...that's Naruto alright. Stop wasting my time, we've got to get a scroll," said Sasuke.

"See," said Naruto smugly choosing to ignores his own oddity. "It's blatantly obvious to the naked eye that you are the one who's in the wrong. Maybe you're the imposter."

Sasuke stopped. "That's an imposter."

"What? You can't turn around your words like that, you backstabbing bastard!"

"Since when did Naruto use words like "called into question", "practically immune," and "blatantly obvious"?!" demanded Sakura. "AND AGAIN when did he ever learn that shuriken Jutsu?"

"What are you talking about?" said Naruto. "I've always talked like this."

"No you haven't," disagreed Sakura.

"...Who are you really?" said Sasuke.

Naruto sighed. "Guys seriously, I'm starting to get a little pissed off. First I get hit, now you think I'm an imposter."

"You hit him?" said Sasuke, turning to Sakura, who squirmed under his gaze, before nodding. "Then it can't be a genjutsu or Henge. And it rather obvious the Jutsu is just another application of shadow clones. Apparently, the dead-last learned how to use proper vocabulary and some semblance of creativity."

Sasuke and Sakura fully expected Naruto to rise up indignantly. What they didn't expect was Naruto to brush off his words.

"Right whatever. Now, what was it you were saying about getting a scroll?" Naruto redirected with foreign ease.

Sasuke eyed Naruto suspiciously, but the Uchiha didn't dwell knowing full well the ruckus they had created was sure to catch the attention of another team. He rather not engage in a fight on the enemy's terms. "Let's get a move on squad seven."

The three-shot through the treetops, Naruto still in a world of his own, having resumed his perusing of memories, only to be broken out of his trance-like state by Sakura's voice, the girl wondering whether Kakashi-sensei would be at the tower.

'Kakashi huh?' thought Naruto fondly, reminiscing on the kid, a particular memory flitting into his head. 'Wait...since when was Kakashi a kid? He's my sensei! ARH!'

Naruto almost slipped as he landed on a branch, but managed to cover up his mistake and continue. The boy forced memories to the back of his mind with tremendous effort, he would revisit it once they had a scroll and were safely in the tower.

* * *

"Is there anyone who wishes to forfeit?" Hayate asked his eyes slowly making there way around the remaining participants.

Naruto was only half paying attention as they rest was focused on his two teammates heated whispering to one another. He had opted to stay out of it even though he did feel rather left out.

To his surprise, Kabuto chose to forfeit, claiming he was too worn from his earlier skirmishes. The older boy seemed fine, real shame he had been a great help.

As he watched him leave he heard his stomach give a light grumble. They had been in the forest for a rather long time and his team had been too busy rushing to stop for food.

"Don't we get a lunch break?" Naruto question his arm raised.

The Sandaime Hokage barely held in a sigh at the boys' antics. "Naruto, there are no lunch breaks." he managed to keep his tone bland instead of outright exasperated.

"Well, some people are hungry," argued Naruto. "Those forms you had us sign didn't exempt you from us dying of starvation."

Several fellow genin seemed to be now nodding their heads realizing their own hunger.

Sarutobi's eyebrow raised as Anko indulged them with handing over a copy of the form, he quickly scanned through it, realizing that Naruto had managed to find a valid loophole (even if probably by accident). Reluctantly, he called for a table of food to be put up and gave the genin ten minutes.

Naruto smirked to himself. 'Heh, they still leave too many exploits in their forms, when I took the Chunnin exam- wait, what? I'm taking it now...' But Naruto still couldn't shake the odd deja vu. He was almost sure he had taken the exam before...and passed.

'Maybe I can see the future,' thought Naruto. 'Cool, that means I'll become a Chuunin!'

Happily dwelling on those thoughts with suspended incredulity, Naruto sat at the newly set up table, unzipping his jacket and leaving it on his chair as he promptly filled his plate. Chouji and Kiba (predictably) were already there eating, while the other genin looked irritated at a few people's indulgences.

But as the ten minutes began ticking away, more and more people joined them.

"Ten minutes are over," said Sarutobi irritably, as the screen began flashing through names, and the table disappeared from view, leaving a few startled genin.

The first names shown were some Leaf genin on Kabuto's team and Sasuke, so Naruto went onto the balcony with the rest of his team. And Naruto gave a sigh in boredom as he leaned on the railing.

"Hey, I get an easy fight!" Naruto cheered, staring up at the screen that now stated: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba.

Naruto jumped over the railing, landing on his feet, his knees bent. 'Strange, I never jump down like that...'

"Knock off that attitude, you don't stand a chance against me!" yelled Kiba in the act of jumping down,. He landed a fair bit rougher though his smirk didn't dare leave his face nor Akamaru who rested on his shoulder who only jumped as his feet touched the ground.

"Hey, is that dog going to fight as well?"

"Me and Akamaru are a team!" shouted Kiba furiously.

"I was talking to Akamaru."

"HAHA!" He laughed with more than a hint of sarcasm. "I don't even need him to kick your ass." The dog growled but Kiba motioned him down. "It alright Akamaru I'll be just fine against this clown!"

'Idiot,' thought Naruto. 'A shinobi must use all the advantages available. Why the hell is he intentionally weakening himself? He's just lost the chance to become Chunnin...huh?'

"Begin!" said Hayate, with a cough.

"Tell ya what Naruto, I'll do you a favor. I'll knock you out with a single shot so you don't waste either of our time."

Naruto snorted oh this was gonna be fun.

With little fan fair Hayate hand shot down with a shout of, "Begin!"

They both stayed still Kiba starting to gather chakra and Naruto watching on.

"Look Kiba, I'm not really in the mood to hear your battle tactics. I honestly was hoping to try and get some kind of challenge here but it really seems like your trying your best to make this as easy as possible."

Kiba growled his chakra ready he began to fall into his family's signature Jutsu. Naruto's eyes narrowed and his body subtly tensed as the Inunzuka began further reflecting his partner.

'A basic Inuzuka family Jutsu... It effectively increases his speed, reach and smell. But it did have rather apparent drawbacks- if the user shoots out to attack it would launch them in a straight near impossible to stop straight line. A faster opponent could easily dodge...but I'm probably not faster, so it'll take careful timing. If Kiba was using Akamaru he could get me at both sides rendering my plan impossible but now!'

"It's already over, Naruto!" shouted Kiba, before cannoning himself across the ground with so much force the ground beneath him cracked hid hand he poised to strike...

Naruto felt his back chill with anxiety, he had to time this just right a second off and he would fall exactly as Kiba wanted.

'Now!' The blonde mentally screeched. With a half-turn, he only just managed to avoid the brunt of Kiba's outstretched claws leaving him with the impression of a cut on his cheek. His specially placed fist slammed right into the still moving Inuzuka's face.

Kiba stumbled away, clutching his now bloodied nose in shock, Naruto wasting little time hurled a heavy kick to the chest, propelling him into the wall of the arena.

'Wow, it's like my body already knew exactly what to do...?' thought Naruto in a slight daze his body sojourning movement with the lifting of two kunai from his pouch. 'I should really keep a kunai holster on the other side as well, seeing as I'm ambidextrous...wait, I'm right-handed!'

Regardless of the many contradicting thoughts, Naruto took a kunai in each hand, giving both a twirl, before taking a stance he had never used before but felt horribly right.

A memory flickered, twirling two three-pronged kunai and suddenly holding such light kunai felt terribly unbalanced .

'What the hell?' wondered Naruto, before snapping back up at the sound of Kiba's heavy steps as he drove himself from the ground.

"You got lucky with that one!" Kiba growled even further infuriated eyes bloodshot and nose dripping.

'More anger equals less focus. Truthfully Kiba was better than him but damn did he lose himself easy.'

Kiba shot forwards a second time, except this time Naruto confidently ducked under the blow now used to the rhythm of the attack. He spun around, hands already forming seals. "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"

The Inuzuka only turned around just in time to dive to the side but the great fireball still managed to smash right into his side.

Eventually, the smoke and flames settle, revealing a slightly charred Kiba on one knee. "I dodged…." He mumbled with awe before falling into the ground with a loud thump.

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously. "You okay? I tried to hold it back a little-" Naruto stopped himself as he realized that he had just used a Jutsu he had never even practiced before- he didn't even know the seals for it! Sure he had seen the results from Sasuke but he had never even looked close enough to figure it out himself!

"Winner –cough-, Uzumaki Naruto!" declared Hayate, before motioning on the med-nin.

'Wait, that's not my name-' Naruto froze his hands shot up to his scalp clenching in frustration. Of course, that was his name. But then, why did it leave him with such a sour feeling?

He was tempted to follow the brunette to the medic bay but he resisted knowing it was more advantageous to study his future opponents.

"Naruto, hurry up! The next match is going to begin!" shouted Sakura, as the screen began flashing through names.

* * *

'Who am I?' Naruto thought not for the first time today. He was trying to grasp at the foreign memories laden in his brain. 'I am Uzumaki Naruto, aren't I?' More memories flowed through Naruto's mind, and he tried to grab onto them, to see something of substance, to find a name.

A day had passed since the preliminaries. Naruto was at his home, frantically trying to keep himself together. The newfound memories were starting to take their toll.

He felt progress and suddenly names began falling through the crack into his clutches. **Uzumaki Kushina. Hatake Kakashi. Uchiha Obito. Jiraiya-sensei...**

And then as he came across the name that meant the most, _Namikaze Minato_, a memory forced its way to the front.

_"Come on, don't say that," said Minato. "I thought it was great!"_

_The white-haired man –no, Jiraiya-sensei looked surprised._

_"Each chapter really seems like a page out of your own life, sensei. It's almost like an autobiography."_

_"Yeah, but," Jiraiya looked embarrassed by the praise. "It didn't sell at all...Maybe I should try and "sex up" the sequel a little...that's my real forte after all."_

_Minato looked back at the book. "The way the protagonist refused to give up, even at the end... He's just like you, sensei."_

_"Hehe...you think so?" said Jiraiya, grinning._

_"Actually, I was thinking..." began Minato._

_"Hm?"_

_"Your book well its been a real inspiration and with Kushina expecting we've decided er..to well," Minato began nervously, as he put the book back on the table. "to name him after the main character in your book. What do you think?"_

_Jiraiya looked shocked. "A-Are you sure about this? It's just a random name I came up with while eating some ramen..."_

_"Naruto," said an angelic voice behind Minato. An attractive red-haired woman approached. "It's a beautiful name."_

_"Kushina..." Jiraiya still looked stunned, before he chuckled. "Hahaha...if you name him that it makes me his godfather, right? Are you sure you want that on your heads?_

_"Absolutely!" said Minato. "You're a man with true skill an example we should-"_

"_Think of it more as a thank you for taking care of Minato. Trust me we have no plans of dying before you ya old perv!" Kushina interrupted with a smirk. _

The memory ended, and Naruto _knew_ **KNEW** Uzumaki Kushina...was his _wif_\- **mother**. And _Namikaze Minato_ that was who he was...no that was impossible he was **Naruto the son. **But how the hell did he get Minato's memories?

He tried to concentrate, and strangely enough, it came easily. Before it had been like wading through a swamp laden with moss and algae but now it was swift and concise. It had only started after all the weirdness...after he had gotten his _father's_ memories.

He picked one of the most recent memories he could find. It was like looking through a poorly lit room closer to the light the easier it was to see the memory.

"I swear...to protect Konoha with my life!" Minato called his voice thick with sincerity and promise. He lifted the **hat** he had longed for since forever into the air it was met with endless cheering he grinned wider than ever before a warmth invading him. Washing over past tragedies, hardship with new justification and love.

Naruto's eyes widened. The **hat** was the very same he had dreamed of taking from his Jiji. The Hokage's ceremonial hat.

Minato was Hokage, but who was young enough to have given birth to a now twelve-year-old? Tobirama? Certainly not, but that leaves only... The fourth Hokage, the one with blonde hair and blue eyes so unbelievably similar to his own he nearly cried.

"I'm the son of the _Yondaime Hokage_, and I've got his memories..." He could no longer hold back the oncoming sobs from escaping his lips nor the water that flooded from his cerulean eyes.

* * *

If Naruto was determined before, he was twice as now. Where Naruto was a hyperactive knucklehead, Minato had been calm and collected, something that built into Naruto's new personality well.

But most importantly, Minato's Jutsu knowledge. Being a Hokage, he had known over a thousand different Jutsu. Naruto now knew how to a good number of them, but everyone's chakra and level of control was different. Fortunately, Naruto's chakra capacity was larger than the Yondaime's at his age, meaning maybe Naruto could afford to bleed out all that extra chakra. Though his control was a whole lot lower than his father before hims.

Naruto's head was in a perpetual state of aching. The Yondaime's memories were trying very hard to fully invade his mind but something was holding them back. It was like a constant battle in his head. He knew he would eventually have all of what made Minato but it would take awhile but who could truly predict such a thing would even happen in the first place?

* * *

Naruto slept through the rest of the day, waking up at nine, feeling more fresh and alert than he had felt in weeks-

"Shit!" Naruto cursed jumping out of bed and shooting a glare to his clock. "I spent an entire day sleeping!"

And now he was hungry.

Naruto changed out of his clothes, slipping on his usual outfit. The gab felt wrong without his jounin vest.

He unzipped his jumpsuit for some semblance of normality but decided to forgo it all together leaving him in just a plain black tee and the usual orange pants. It would do; he exited through the door and with little attention, transversed the way to Ichirakus.

The blonde was met with a smiling Teuchi. At least there was one constant in both lives.

"Ah, Naruto! The usual?"

"Hmm...I'll just take one today I think," Naruto settled as he slid onto the stool.

"J-Just one?" Teuchi spluttered, stunned.

"With the all the stress from the exams I just haven't been as hungry I guess..?" He lied easily a skill he had also picked from his new insight, Teuchi bought it without a doubt to its validity already starting the bowl.

Thinking about it, that was most likely Minato's tendencies kicking in again. The man liked ramen- if he hadn't, Naruto would have disowned him as a father- but he didn't eat loads of bowls a sitting. Now, Kushina during her pregnancy, when she got cravings, it was basically just for ramen and lots of it...

Naruto almost fell out of his chair, a memory of the occasion when Minato was successful in knocking Kushina up.

"Compliments of the house," said Teuchi, setting down the bowl of steaming ramen in front of Naruto. "Er...Naruto, something wrong?"

"I'm fine!" said Naruto quickly, starting to wolf down the ramen. Minato ate with more poise, but Naruto was too busy trying to blot out unwanted memories at the moment.

Ichiraku Ayame appeared, her hair visibly damp. "Dad, you'll never believe this," she started irritably. "I was at the bathhouse and some creepy old man spying on me and everyone else!"

"...What?" Naruto mumbled, looking up from his ramen, the vague description ringing a bell. "...Did this guy have long spiky white hair, strange head-gear, and red face-paint?"

"Yeah, that's right," said Ayame, before continuing her rant about her experience.

Naruto slurped down the rest of his ramen and slapped down some money on the counter. "Thanks for the ramen, old man! And I wound't worry much Ayame-chan i'll go take care of the old pervert!" Naruto called with a wink toward girl before he absconded.

Ayame blinked he cheeks strangely heating up. She looked down and noticed the single empty ramen bowl where the boy had only just been sitting and became distracted from the oddity of the wink. "...Did Naruto eat one bowl?"

Teuchi nodded fearfully. "I'm just as terrified as you."

Ayame coudn't help but wonder if the whole chunin exams thing was a bit more intense then she had been led to believe, it seemed it had quite the effect on her favorite young blonde.

* * *

Jiraiya giggled. The women had thought they gotten rid of him, but he was back and ready for another eyeful through his special little hole in the fence.

"Now what do we have here?" ventured a voice behind him.

Jiraiya turned in an instant, his hands ready to cover his face (or somewhere else) in case it was a woman.

To his surprise, it was a short blonde boy .

"My friend Ayame said you had been spying on her earlier...give me one good reason why I shouldn't kick you over the fence right now," Naruto threatened.

"Brat, get lost!" hissed Jiraiya furiously. "These things happen all the time but if your gonna bug me about it I'll sign your copy of Icha Icha Paradise later, just get outta here!"

Naruto grinned. "Sorry, old man-"

"Have some respect for your elders, brat! Do you know who I am-"

"The Legendary Toad Sage, Jiraiya?" interrupted Naruto more than aware of the mans usual dramatics. "Yeah, I heard about you in the academy. That's why I need you to train me."

Jiraiya snorted. "I'm not going to be training any brat-"

"Hey, you're speaking to an up incoming Hokage," Naruto cautioned though his smile worked to ruin the effect. "Uzumaki Naruto!"

That was it, Naruto knew. Now the man knew his name, and he would undoubtedly realize that he was the son of the Yondaime and that he should train-

_**"Get lost kid, I'm busy."**_

Naruto narrowed his eyes. Now that was too far. After everything the two had been through together! Anger swept through his bones just barely over shadowing the sadness just beneath. He was on the verge of kicking Jiraiya over the wall _deep breath_ a cool calm came over him one more- once again, one of Minato's tendencies.

"A shame. I'd love to be trained by the famed Toad Hermit."

"A lot of people do, if you're going to stay, find your own hole in the fence."

Naruto carried on, ignoring Jiraiya's words. "I mean, you're a man with true skill, an example all shinobi should follow... I can't think of a finer shinobi than you."

That stopped Jiraiya dead before he turned around slowly. "W-What?" He said, looking at Naruto as if he hadn't seen him properly the first time.

Naruto mimicked one of Minato's smiles an odd thing on when his face was used to his normal theatrical grins, before turning away. "Well, too bad. Guess I'll see you around-"

And as Naruto heard Jiraiya's voice telling him to stop, he grinned.

* * *

"Right, so this is a fairly basic chakra-control exercise. Water-walking" Jiraiya began his voice taking the familiar tone of Minato's youth. "Start at the shallow end and work your way to the deeper parts the more comfortable you get. If you've mastered the tree-walking, this should be a piece of cake."

Naruto stepped cautiously onto the water, chakra briefly held him up before it flickered away forcing him under.

Jiraiya burst out laughing as Naruto emerged soaking wet from the lake. "Heh, I knew I wouldn't regret this! Classic entertainment!"

'That's funny,' thought Naruto as he climbed out of the lake. 'I should've been able to do that. My chakra has been a little weird since the forest- damn! I forgot all about Orochimaru hitting me with his purple flames- a **Five Element Seal**!' He realized, correctly identifying it from Minato's vast seal knowledge. The man, after all, had been an expert in fuinjutsu It dwarfed even his ninjutsu.

"Brat, what are you doing now?" Jiraiya snapped, as Naruto stripped to the waist.

"Firstly the names Naruto, if you call me brat one more time I'm gonna start calling you ero-sennin! Secondly that creepy snake guy from the forest Orochimaru hit me with a Five Elements Seal, and it's screwing with my chakra control."

"Orochimaru?" Jiraiya asked eyebrows raised in surprise. "Wait, how do you know it's a Five Elements Seal? I didn't think they taught too much sealing in the academy."

Naruto mentally kicked himself, before once more drawing out a lie. "Well, he did say '_Five Elements Seal' _when he smashed his hand into my gut."

Jiraiya nodded easily buying it, and approached Naruto reaching down and forcing chakra into his stomach.

The Kyuubi's seal became visible and Five Elements Seal layered over it.

"Here brat- Naruto, I'll get rid of it."

Within short moments, the seal broke away leaving the kyuubi perfectly visible.

Naruto strolled onto the lake, walking with ease. ' That was when it started wasn't it? The five elemental seal; Unless he managed something while I was passed out, but I don't believe thats the case. But then how could the Five Elements Seal of given Minato's memories? I suppose I've always had them, but the seal shook them loose; but that still doesn't explain how I got them in the first place!'

"Hey, Naruto! Stop mucking around!" Jiraiya chided. "Hmmm...But I guess you have mastered water walking. Alright i'll teach you a special Jutsu of mine, I think you earned it."

'It would be offly convenient if it were Rasengan,' thought Naruto. 'I really need an excuse to use it.'

"I'm going to let you sign the Toad Summoning Contract!"

Naruto stopped for a moment, he'd technically signed the contract once already. Hmm...Well it was best to make sure.

He couldn't wait to see Gamabunta again.

"I believe that you can only access the Kyuubi's chakra in life-threatening situations," Jiraiya began. "But to use it effectively, you have to gain some control over it, and to do so, you- well I think you see where this is leading..."

Naruto took a step back. "Sensei-"

"So far, you've been able to summon reasonably large toads...as your final test!"

Jiraiya dashed forwards, his speed easily out pacing Naruto's own, and with ease pushed the blonde off the cliff.

Naruto fell quickly, air breezing by so fast it almost burned, a scream broke through his tight lips. He struggled to think of anything but falling, of the death that awaited below, it was all too real being nothing more than a bloody spot on the ground. .

Everything single instinct ingrained in Naruto through his training as Minato or otherwise screeched. Naruto began pumping chakra into his hands and feet forcing his body to cling to the cliff face. His chakra forced it way into the hard rock before slipping disrupting the pattern of the flow, he burst back into the air nearly screaming a second time before Minato's experience and cold logic forced its way through. _'It's too sleek to use chakra...I need to summon something that'll be big enough to hold itself between the cliffs...'_

One of the Yondaime's last memories suddenly replayed itself through Naruto's mind, the man standing proudly on the head of a gigantic toad, facing off against the monstrous Kyuubi no Yoko.

_'Of course, Gamabunta he's the only one big enough...damn, my chakra level's too to summon him! Well it's now or never kyuubi,'_ Naruto concentrated on the seal, trying his best to drain chakra but it was a futile effort.

_'Damn, to think I remained alive only to die like this- damn it!'_

And for some reason as he continued on those thoughts he slowly blacked out...

Naruto opened his eyes to a sewer, he tried to step forward his steps far longer than they should be. He had gotten taller.

He looked toward his reflection in the water spilled around his feet. _'The hell...?' _The old face of Minato stared back.

Naruto breathed in forcing himself to relax. He concentrated on his surroundings. _'There's some kind of malevolent presence in the distance-'_

It was identical to the very same he felt on the day he died.

The blond forced his longer legs forward through the dark passageways, approaching the malevolence of the Kyuubi. And as the tunnels disappeared behind great bars revealed themselves a seal carefully over them.

Naruto wasn't scared- actually, yes he was. He was downright terrified. Sure, a seal was locking Kyuubi away, but that didn't change a damn thing.

Nervously, Naruto cleared his throat. "Kyuubi? You there?"

A red light appeared behind the bars, illuminating a massive fox, a twisted grin on its face, but that grin quickly faded as he saw Naruto.

"You!" Kyuubi roared, immediately stabbing his claws through the bars, trying to reach Naruto. "You weak worthless little monkey! You-" Kyuubi stopped his frenzy, glaring at Naruto. "No, you're not that so-called Yondaime Hokage. You're the boy..."

"Well-"

"Yet you are not the boy...' The Kyuubi's eyes flashed and the fox threw back its head and laughed. "Both of you? What have you done human..."

Naruto cleared his throat again eyes narrowed. "I'm here for your power Nine Tails, I think its about time you paid rent."

The demon laughed dark and horrific."Rent? Yes perhaps lets see what you can do with my power Minato Namikaze."

Amused, the demon sent a surge of red chakra through the bars, which enveloped Naruto...

A pair of slitted blue eyes opened, and Naruto bit his thumb and formed several seals.

Immediately, there was a great cloud of smoke in the gulf, and Naruto landed on the head of a gigantic toad.

The toad threw out its limbs, clinging between the cliff faces, and slowly looked up onto its head.

"What the- why the hell is there some blonde brat on my head?! Jiraiya, why the hell have you summoned me!?" bellowed Gamabunta.

Naruto smiled lightly. "Afraid you're not dealing with the old pervert. I'm the latest to sign your contract."

Gamabunta roared with laughter. "Nice one kid! A little brat like you summoning me!"

"I wouldn't be so rude Gama, I think you'll find me quite the capable summoner!"

Gamabunta's eyes rolled upwards, so they could see Naruto better. "I doubt that very much boy, you lot tend to be a rather foolish bunch, liening and thieving."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I have a few advantages."

Gamabunta felt for the boys chakra, and reeled back.

Meanwhile, back at the top of the cliff, Jiraiya was calmly watching the two. "Well, how about that. He summoned the full works."

Gamabunta leapt from the valley, Jiraiya panicked. He panicked, even more, when the huge toad landed in front of him.

"Jiraiya, what's the meaning of this?! Letting a demon sign my contract?! He reeks of death!"

Naruto found himself falling again as the frog disappeared "Oh boy..."

He managed to land easily enough but the look on Jiryia's face was alarming. "I'm...er...sorry about that…"

"Do not allow him to summon me again Jiraiya or there will be consequences."

He poofed out of existence once more leaving a silent duo.

* * *

"So br- Naruto, the toads aren't honestly all that great," said Jiraiya, as he picked at his ramen moodily.

Naruto turned away from his lunch for a moment. "It's fine sensei. Do you think the nine tails will prevent me from ever getting a summon?" he lied, it was unlikely it was truly the nine tails that stopped Gama...his words reeks of death still haunted him.

"Maybe but I think today regardless, his chakra's proved pretty useful I doubt you even really need a summon. And anyhow," Jiraiya peeked around inside the stand before leaning in."When you got a lovely lady like that tending to your every need you ought not to pressure yourself so much."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, before remembering that Jiraiya was, after all, a great pervert. "Well," began Naruto delicately, "I suppose I just won over the family with my charming manners, my award-winning smile, and my glossy blonde hair," he said, running a hand through his hair for extra emphasis.

Jiraiya snorted. "Youth is wasted on the young."

Naruto shrugged. "The Ichiraku's just have good taste. Speaking off, you best keep yourself away from Ayame"

"I got you the first time kid, I won't bother her." replied Jiraiya irritably. "Besides I can see when a man has already staked his claim." He winked.

Naruto arched an eyebrow, before finishing his ramen. He handed the bowl over to Ayame who had just walked back and was currently starring dagger at Jiraiya, "Don't worry Nee-chan the old man 'll handle the bill."

And instantly, Naruto's hand shot out, catching Jiraiya as he tried to Kawarami away.

"Going somewhere?" smirked Naruto, but he soon stopped his smirking, realizing how Uchiha-ish such an action would be.

Both disgruntled and annoyed, Jiraiya reluctantly forked over, before the two set off again.

"You know, Naruto," said Jiraiya. "All I've heard about you is that you're some dense loudmouth. But I haven't seen any of that."

Naruto sighed looking out over he village. "Well...sensei, we all have to just one day, you know, sort of have to get on with life, don't we? I mean, it seems so far that every real situation where I could've died, I won with luck. And that luck's going to run out one day."

Naruto looked up at the Hokage Mountain. "Sensei, I want- I'm going to become Hokage one day. And I'm not going to let someone kill me before I do."

Naruto inwardly congratulated himself. Minato, after all, was the Hokage, and therefore a politician and any good politician needed to know the good old art of bullshitting. Pity the art never worked on Kushina. That woman, she could be so cruel sometimes- heck, even in the bedroom- Naruto cut off his thoughts.

It was the worst thing about thinking like your father and having his memories. Seeing your mother that way...Naruto shuddered.

Jiraiya didn't answer but was still contemplating Naruto's words. "I'll meet you outside the bathhouse tomorrow for your training," said the Toad Sage, before giving a little wave and Shunshin-ed away.

The blonde was left alone. It was still midday, and once again he found himself stuck in the past. It was hard not to linger one what was right in front of him, like a ghostly shadow.

_"Foolish student of mine!" exclaimed Jiraiya. "You just toss around your Hiraishin and Rasengan like they're nothing."_

_"Sensei, sensei," said Minato. "It's part of a complex fighting style. If everyone thinks all I ever use is the Hiraishin and Rasengan, that'll enable me to keep a couple of trump cards hidden up my sleeves."_

_"No missions for us today," said Minato. "We can all have a day off."_

_The three genin looked around at each other._

_"Day off?" they echoed._

_Minato scratched his head. "You know, a free day. No missions. Very short holiday."_

_"Sensei, what's a holiday?" asked Obito._

_Minato blinked. "You kids don't know what a holiday is?" Then, Minato remembered the three had grown up in times of war._

_"Well...how about we all-?"_

_"Talk it over lunch?" interrupted Kakashi._

_Minato deflated slightly. "Well, we could just go-"_

_"For a day outside the village?" interrupted Rin._

_"Or maybe-"_

_"Do some drills?" interrupted Obito._

_Minato was silent for a moment. "Maybe-"_

_"We should just relax for the day?" chorused the three genin._

_"Aw, going on a picnic is so boring!" said Kushina, lying back on the grass._

_Minato shrugged. "And going out for ramen every single day isn't?"_

_A rock was thrown past his head. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that," said Kushina, but her voice was more playful rather than menacing._

_"Fine with me," replied Minato, his own grin on his face. "Why don't you just enjoy the scenery?"_

_"All there is a boring waterfall right over there-" Kushina froze for a moment._

_"What's the matter? Something wrong?" asked Minato, concerned, leaning over Kushina._

_Suddenly, he felt a hand grip the front end of his vest. "Kus-"_

_And a moment later, he was thrown through the air, heading towards the water. Fortunately, his training kicked in and he self-righted himself, channeling chakra into his feet and landing neatly on the water surface._

_Kushina climbed to her feet. "You're no fun!" she complained, seeing Minato not soaking wet._

_"Really? How about this?" said Minato, disappearing in a yellow flash, reappearing behind Kushina (using the three-pronged kunai he made sure she was always carrying) and throwing her into the water- and Kushina didn't channel chakra into her feet quickly enough._

_She furiously burst out of the water, soaking wet. "Oh, you'll pay for this!"_

_Minato didn't answer; considering he was too busy laughing._

_"You are sleeping on the couch tonight!"_

_"But it's my house!"_

_"Don't care!"_

Why did it all have to be over? It would be so much easier if he were just dead, it should of been his son here not him. He longed for his wife, for his friends, his sensei. It all felt so gone.


	2. Chapter 2: Nostalgic Hurt

"Good day, Naruto," said Kakashi, in a surprisingly cheerful manner, before he froze. "Wait, is this about that whole me not training you for your fight against Neji?"

Naruto blinked. "Oh. I forgot about that- well, no, it's cool, I've got someone else teaching me."

"Oh? Who?" asked Kakashi, back to his usual self.

"Jiraiya, toad guy, big hair, massive pervert, writes those books of yours-"

"I know who he is, Naruto. So, you're being trained by Jiraiya- intriguing."

"And you're training Sasuke."

"I will be," Kakashi answered easily.

Naruto nodded in agreement, a grin on his face. "Hey Kakashi-sensei- out of interest, who was your sensei?"

"Hmm….No one important." The silver haired man replied though his eyes looked far off, wistful.

"Ah, well I guess that's probably what I'll end up saying about you in a few years."

Kakashi released a light laugh before walking off.

It looked like he'd have time to kill. He'd have to work on his chakra control.

If anything, his chakra control had worsened after he gained his father's memories. He had a bad chakra control before- but then his head was packed with memories of having different chakra levels and different control.

He sighed. If he wasn't able to fix that problem, it was going to come back and stab him soon. The Chunin Exams was filled with genin- but sometimes he had trouble remembering he was.

A genin with very bad chakra control. And all the most dangerous opponents in the Exam, Neji, Sasuke and Gaara.

He sighed. Looks like he'd need to get to it.

* * *

"What I'm about to teach you will blow your mind!" Jiraiya yelled, striking another one of his dramatic poses.

"Is it the Rasengan?" Naruto asked dully.

"No!" Jiraiya shouted cheerfully.

"What?" Naruto was actually surprised. If it wasn't the Rasengan, then what the hell was it?

"Well, I was going to teach it to you," said Jiraiya. "It was what I was thinking yesterday, but after um, meditating."

"You mean drunk-"

"Shut up Naruto," Jiraiya interrupted. "No, you see, I discovered that all I was doing was teaching you to scrounger? Scrounging off the techniques of old men and dead guys? Scrounger."

Naruto didn't know whether he should continue listening or punch Jiraiya square in his stupid face.

"Every decent student of mine had their own speciality!" Jiraiya said again, striking another pose. "You have to create your own style and techniques! Summoning Toads is old, boring and played out. Find your own path and make your own style! So, goodbye! Don't talk to me again!"

Naruto stood still for a few moments, his mouth hanging open. "You're drunk right now aren't you?"

"Bye!" Jiraiya disappeared into thin air, leaving Naruto alone.

For several seconds, Naruto started strangling the air. "Grr-thatstupid-sonofa-argh-hell-fucking-bastard-urgh-what the fuck?"

Great. Now he had no way of explaining using the Rasengan- even with his chakra control he still could. Simple jutsus were handled easily.

_'Do I have to spend an entire month just practising control?'_ He wondered. _'No, perhaps Jiriyia's words held some merit. Admittedly not without the context of having a previous lifes memories of chakra theory and fuinjutsu. Well he had time, time best spent focusing on his enemies weakness.`_

* * *

The sun rose on an incredible morning. The sky reflected beautiful gold and vibrant purples casting the woods below in a dream like haze. The young Uzumaki had been hiking for the last day in a half tired and worn, the new days light left a new energy in his bones. The search for a cabin he only vaguely remembered had slowly been feeling like an incredibly bad idea. The Leaf village much to its names credit was hidden entirely from view leaving him worried on exactly how he was going to end up getting back there.

Though as he reached the horizon a large wooden cabin had made itself known. And with it a few memories of him and Kushina coming down for some err...well that was disturbing to think about. Turned out he'd need to disinfect the entire place.

Of course, the place hadn't been lived in for about thirteen years, but to Naruto's knowledge, its water and electricity was connected to a nearby village, so that should work just fine.

Naruto spent the time re-familiarising himself with the area.

* * *

Naruto entered in the evening, the place was old and dusty nostalgia touching at every fiber. This was it. His training ground, his private haven. Now, it was time for a cunning plan.

As Minato had said: "A large crisis requires a large plan. And a plan should be a very, very cunning plan, as cunning as a fox who used to be a Professor of Cunning at Konoha University but has moved on and is working for the entire Elemental Countries at the High Commission of International Cunning Planning."

Well, not all of Minato's quotes were that brilliant. But no one makes that much sense when they're hammered. Besides Jiriyia had said it sounded incredibly cunning. He was also hammered.

Naurto may not be fighting a war but it didn't mean he still didn't have very real threat in Sasuke, Gaara and Neji.

Shikamaru had a high chance of either not trying or falling sleep. The Sand ninja he figured wouldn't make it past Shino, and he was confident he could handle the bug boy with heaping of fire jutsu.

The sand girl? Wind jutsu from a distance, and the thing would probably hurt quite a bit if he got hit with it while it was folded at close range. Actually, he might need to spend more time than he first thought in finding a way to deal with her.

And Dosu of the Sound. Well, he was a cut above his teammates, but his power lay in close range for his sound attacks to have any real effect.

He wondered briefly whether they should have done something about there being nine competitors. Was someone going to have to fight two rounds? It seemed a bit unfair.

* * *

There was a river about half an hour's walk from the cabin. Naruto was slowly beginning to balance on the shallow end. He'd decided to spend the day training on the water.

Building up his chakra control was not going to be enough that he knew. Naruto was going to create a new technique. As useless as Jiraiya had been the man had a point. He was not Minato.

Why should he use his techniques? The Rasengan and Hiraishin were powerful, shockingly so- but Jiraiya was right. Was he a scrounger, nicking his dad's techniques? Well, a part of him didn't care, but another part, a more Naruto part was far too prideful to accept just becoming the second Yellow Flash.

He listened to the world around him, and began to think, looking for that little bit of inspiration.

Elemental manipulation. He'd- Minato had meant to mix elemental affinity in the Rasengan.

Naruto wasn't going to limit himself to one elemental affinity. In time, the chakra of a being grows stronger and a person can have multiple affinities, or even balance them entirely. No need to waste time focusing on one.

Chakra focused into his hands blue in nearly tangible. The blond felt himself begin to sink into the rippling blue below. Before the sumurging he bounced back up. The chakra, he let it surge and grow, amplifying it. How to unleash it? a hand seal? He moved his palms together, it felt too easy, too natural. His gut screamed no.

It felt too early to make such a critical move now. Carefully, Naruto began to familiarise himself with it. Maybe he should just release it now and see if he could think of something-?

It dispersed into the air.

Maybe he was going about this the wrong way. He needed to think- what was he trying to form? A bullet technique or shockwave might- well, a lot of bullet techniques tended to focus around fire. And shockwave techniques were obviously wind.

He thought of wind. Just about every wind technique was a slicing attack or shockwave. If he wanted to beat Temari he need something surprising, his own brand. How else did the wind destroy? What could be another powerful manifestation- a tornado. Not one of the miserable things created by fan-wielders, a real tornado.

But how to go about it?

He found the information neatly tucked back, the mechanics of a tornado.

The explanation was complex, Naruto managed to simplify it.

Intense heat causes moist air. When it meets cold air, it explodes upwards. This may form a thunder cloud and a storm starts. Rapid movement of upwards air and then winds from different directions causes it to rotate.

Trying to replicate that using chakra would be hard as hell. Well, he could probably form the thunder clouds with a powerful enough fire jutsu, but he'd have to do something to keep a constant movement of upwards air, not to mention the winds.

No, this wasn't going to be easy, but the technique if created would be capable of destruction on such a scale, depending on how fast it rotated.

What if his chakra itself was pumping heat into the sky? He'd be the source; provide thunder clouds. But what about the rotation? Was there a technique or so to provide wind from- no, Wind Techniques were sent at people, not back on the user.

Could he make the technique himself, or simply provide the rotation? _Wait, provide the rotation, like one of those Hyuuga and their Kaiten? _No, that was ridiculous. He wasn't capable of spinning to the incredible speeds required for truly powerful tornadoes.

He'd be dizzy after and unable to move. His tornado wouldn't be going anywhere, and would be stationary until he stopped spinning.

What if his chakra provided the spinning, like if he was in a sort of bubble that rotated, but he himself remained stationary like the Rasengan?

There was also the fact that he'd get whisked away by his own tornado. He could then end the technique, but it'd be at the risk of falling through the air.

It required more thought, more thought that could be found after a meal. All this concentration was getting him hungry.

* * *

"Oh, hey," said Kakashi. "Wait, Jiraiya, what are you doing here? I thought Naruto was being trained by you for the Chunin Exams."

"I told him to come up with his own thing," Jiraiya responded lazely, sparing Kakashi with a glance.

"I don't know if thats really a great idea," Kakashi explained. "The boys stubborn and a fair bit creative but not really the type to make something of his own. Did you at least teach him something?"

"I tried Toad summons, Didn't really work out," Jiraiya palacted, though his focus was clearly on whatever was through his telescope. "Oh yeah! Kakashi, look at the size of those!"

"Huh?" Kakashi reached over for the telescope, only for Jiraiya to slap his hand away.

"I said look at the size of those, not take my only telescope and look at the size of those," said Jiraiya irritably.

Kakashi whipped out his binoculars. "Huh. Well i'm out, have fun not training Naruto and i'm gonna train the Uchiha brat."

"Sounds like fun."

"Yeah, so uh, about Naruto," said Kakashi. "You really just gonna let this happen?"

"Well," Jiraiya mumbled under a frown, eyes peering from the telescope to the white haired man. "There's a chance he'll do something right?"

"He's no Yondaime Jiriyia-sama, I think your expectations are a little too high."

Jiraiya chuckled. "You're right, tell you what, I'll let him mess around for the rest of the week, and then I'll find him and help him out a bit, and maybe give a few pointers on that Hyuga shit."

Kakashi laughed as well. "Being seeing you Jiriyia-sama. I'm excited to see our students clash."

"Don't go pinning him all on me you bastard you had him plenty long." He sneered as Kakashi disappeared in a wave of leaves.

* * *

Naruto fiddled around on the drawing board his eyes sharp and face contemplative. His drawing was not but a crude stickman but to the best of his abilities several ideas were sketched next to it.

"chakra travels up, heat is produced," Naruto mumbled in dull repetitive thought, pacing past the board once more a single glance thrown toward the depiction. "which causes thunder clouds," he added, eyes taking a minute to drawn to his written clouds.

"Then the chakra spins. Problem: the heat could also spin me," He wrote that beside his diagram.

"Dangers- constantly pumping out chakra could quickly cause chakra exhaustion. Such a technique is likely non-suitable for one-on-fights. Also, it probably isn't that safe to be standing in the centre of a tornado. Finally, there seems to be the whole thing of not really being able to control the tornado."

Naruto glared at the board a moment longer, chewing on the end of his pen.

"Wouldn't work."

Such an unstable technique that required so much power- he just couldn't think of a way that he could get it to work.

The blonde released a long drawl of breath plopping down on his dusty couch amusedly watching the white particles drift above his head. His eyes scanned arcoss the old building before settling on the window.

The sun was setting.

"_I've never seen a view quite like it." Her voice was calm and uniquely drawing._

_He nearly turned to look her over, she had that way about her. Her words brought a new vigor to him every time she spoke. One of her many charms._

"_My father build it for my mother. Wanted something to show how much he appreciated her, never goods with words the old man. Always had to go over the top with his action to make up for it…" He laughed lightly allowing his eyes to drift back to Kushina. Her red hair was drawn against her spread out body, light nearly reflecting across the shiny maroon locks. His finger nunged down and twirled it._

"_Why you'd take so long to show me?"_

He wasn't sure when he moved, when the memory swallowed him but a whole new fealing coursed through his body as he stood before grave he'd never seen but made him feel so empty.

Only a name was carved across the stone surface sticking out plainly in the empty stretch of land he found himself in, his entire being was risting looking. He knew he woudn't like what it read.

_It annoyed him. It only ever seemed to rain on good days. It felt so wrong that a sunny day had to come now. He cried, screeched and screamed into the void of the wood as he lugged the body into the poorly dug hole._

_Why did his papa have to die? Why now? Right after mom. He felt so alone, for the first time in his life he heard the silence of life. It was the worst sound he'd ever heard. He had carried the body past the hill, his body felt weak. He resisted the howlings of rest of began palming the dirt over the body._

_**It would be another year before he brought the stone.**_

Minato had been so young then, it hit him hard. The flood of untouched emotion, of things not delt with since childhood. The cabin held so much love and so much pain. Pain not even shared with Kushina.

Suddenly the chunin exams seemed far away and his father so much closer. He knew one day he'd have to visit his wife, but today his father would do.

"I think its about we talked pops, sorry it took so long-"

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, honestly I jsut write when it hits me. It can be pretty random. Sorry for ending it like I did, one of those ideas that I didn't know I had till I started writing it, seems to be a trend so far with the overly emotional Minato memories. **


	3. Chapter 3: Sand can hurt

**A/N: Ok some explanations are in order! I've been working on a seperate fic for some time...one i'm having a lot of trouble writing. That and I mde my first major change to the source material with this fic. But with quartine and all I knew I coudn't leave you guys hanging any longer. So here goes!**

"Carefully, carefully," Naruto said, focusing upon the winds that were gathering upon the water.

Through much trial and error he had begun mixing together multiple wind techniques. Through the use of fire techniques. He had found it strangely easy to to craft his chakra into the flame like nature but it seemed to come naturally. He wrote it off for later inspection.

Slowly, the winds began to spin.

It wasn't easy focusing on so many separate points to gather the winds together, using his fingers to distribute the chakra evenly across the still-building tornado. Naruto had found it nearly impossible without standing still. He was deliberately slowing the process, to more carefully examine any possible problems in its formation.

He had been going over it in such a manner for around two in a half days now, leaving him little of the week left. With a slight hum of satisfaction and a wave of the hand sluggishly to the right the tornado began to spin violently, and the funnel cloud formed, turning a light shade of blue as water gathered and dirt gathered.

Naruto marveled at his work, as basic as such a thing was for one skilled at the fan, with pure chakra it could be considered a remarkable feet. Its current stage wasn't a game changer but with more time it could be a nightmare of an attack.

He began to let the tornado dissipate, the funnel cloud twisting and lengthening, and the cooling ocean winds slowly fading back into nature's backdrop.

It was cathartic, his first jutsu. NARUTO'S first jutsu. He collapsed at the water's edge, filled with glee. The blonde was hoping to do something about the lengthy ending process- but still, it worked.

He lay on his back, laughing.

And the laughter immediately died as he found himself unable to do something that Minato had done after he created a new jutsu.

Share it.

He decided to head back to the village, the solitude no longer feeling as appealing.

* * *

The walk to the village was long and left him plenty of time to think. His current jutus wasn't quite ready for show time yet. So it was time to focus on his opponent specifically.

The Hyuuga's Byakugan made Neji immune to most genjutsu (not that he was any good at those anyway) and aware of just about everything around them. Their Kaiten technique could serve to deflect projectiles, shield, and knock away enemies with speed unfound by almost any other taijutsu.

They aimed for tenketsu with deadly accuracy, which could easily cut off his chakra, his greatest asset.

He'd need a way around it. And just as easily he felt with previous unfound clarity the need to break down possible weakness.

The Byakugan had a blind spot, a near imperceptible very tiny one. An attack from underground was the obvious choice but also limited vision.

But at any rate, Naruto would not get far against Neji if he didn't improve his taijutsu. Most of what he called his current style was a mixture of the basic academy style to things he'd seen, in movies, thugs beating each other up on the street, and moves he'd seen Sasuke do (although he'd never admit to that).

Minato had learnt many styles before ultimately concluding that it was pointless to know each style inside out, and chose to discard what didn't actually help him. He'd never perfected his taijutsu style that he'd intended to name the Fist of the Thunder God, which Naruto thought was quite frankly the most ridiclous name he'd ever heard. Really was everything thunder themed with that man? He had barely even had an affinity.

Still, he wouldn't complete it, he'd come up with his own style. Fist of Naruto.

…ok, so he wasn't the best at naming either. He'd have plenty of time to find a better name...and also make it. The leaf village wasn't built in a day, and a taijutsu style sure wasn't either.

The Ultimate Striking Fist of the Swirling Uzumaki?

…maybe he'd just get it from someone else.

* * *

It was amazing how much Minato had learnt in such a short time, the history books remembered the Fourth as some godlike figure, valiant and heroic in his battles against the forces of Iwa and the Kyuubi.

No one remembered the boy who'd torn every muscle in his arms just trying to get the academy taijutsu down, or how he'd shattered every bone in his hand with his first rasengan. It had been so traumatic he had stopped working on the jutsu for months. No one knew that Minato had doubted himself sometimes, questioning why he went through such pains, was it even worth it? And the doubts still stayed with him throughout his life. In review it always seemed like an invisible force pushed him to strive for higher purpose.

Something Naruto had never truly felt until now. He had always valued honor, but the true determination Minato had grown up with wasn't something Naruto could honestly relate too. For all his buster his dreams of Hokage weren't well worked on.

It was an area of shame with his new mind, when he failed he'd whine and often give up. How very childish of him. Minato it seemed had always been more mature.

Now he wouldn't give up until he had a taijutsu style that could rivals Lee's own someday. There was no doubt in his mind it would be accomplished. But that was awhile from today, the first thing to do was find a partner.

* * *

"Excuse me; can you help me find a patient's room?" Naruto asked the woman behind the desk at the hospital.

She looked up briefly her face glazed in boredom. "Of course, name?"

"Rock Lee."

"…what? Is that an actual name?"

"I don't know, is it on there?"

The woman did so, shaking her head. But a few moments later, she turned back to him, surprised. "It turns out it is. We've got a patient registered under it. Well, I've seen some strange-"

"Yeah, where's his room then?" Naruto interrupted.

Once he got the directions, he headed up to the right ward. Like most ninja when they were hospitalised, Lee had been given a private room rather than be put into a shared ward.

Lee was still sleeping when he arrived. Naruto pulled up a chair, trying to supress the pity he knew the fellow genin wouldn't appreciate. Lee had some horrific injuries, it made his body tingle just imagining himself in the boys shoes.

He respected Lee, out of anyone he deserved the finals. Lee would've beaten anyone he faced in the preliminary round hands-down, except the one he'd been given.

The door opened, and Naruto opened his eyes. "Shikamaru? What are you doing here?"

The Nara frowned as he entered the room. "I was visiting Chouji. But heard something about Rock's being lee and bad parents from the front lady, figured it must've been Lee. Thought I'd visit."

"Why's Chouji in the hospital? I didn't think he got that beaten up in the preliminaries," Naruto passively questioned.

"Indigestion," Shikamaru groaned. "I got him a fruit basket and everything," he indicated a large basket in his hand, "turns out they put him on some strict diet."

"Oh, well that's a shame. But if he can't have any, it's only right we honor him by not wasting the food," Naruto began sagely, Shikamaru nodding. "Pass me a banana-"

Naruto stopped. The air felt strange all of a sudden, polluted and thick. He noted distinctly a malevolence directed at him. Shikamaru judging by his rigid posture felt it too. He looked to the open window, sand trickled in, progressively more and more fell in until A boy materialised out of the sand. His sunken eyes focused only on Lee.

"You know, most people use the door," Naruto muttered darkly, hand angling down to a kunai secured at his hip.

"What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked.

Gaara tilted his head, slowly looking over at the Nara. "I'm here to kill him."

Naruto raised his fists, only for Shikamaru to seize Gaara with his shadow binding technique. "What the hell?" Shikamaru ventured voice shaky. "You have some sort of grudge with him?"

"No," Gaara replied his voice a cold thunder far drowning out whatever power the Nara may have had. "I just want to kill him. And if you get in my way, I'll kill you too." He said it so casually Naruto nearly shivered.

Instead he just grabbed that banna he had been talking about earlier. Casually leaning against the dresser near the door as he peeled it. "I'd like to see you try," Naruto declared voice clear and commanding, matching Gaara's own thunderous cool.

"What the hell, Naruto? Did you see the way he fought Lee? We can't stop him he's a demon!"

"A demon?" Naruto asked a dark smirk coming to his face. "I've got one of my own. No problem." He took another bite, eyes never leaving Gaara's own.

"Oh? Then we are the same. When I was but a newborn, my father-"

"I'm not in the mood. I came here to get some help from a friend. You came here to kill him. Now only one of us can have what we want. Now odds are, before you even get near him the seal on his bed will go off at your killing intent and notifies the nearest jounin. Of course I shouldn't expect you to know much about seals. I hear the sands rather shit at them, your proof enough of that. Basically-"

Shikamaru unconsciously released his shadow technique as he turned to Naruto in shock. "Are you out of your goddamn mind-?"

"Tornado Fist!" Naruto bellowed, jerking his fist forward in a practiced motion.

The next thing Shikamaru saw a great rush of spinning wind Gaara out of the window. "What the hell?"

Naruto didn't appear to notice him as he danced around the room, doing a little jig. "Haha, it actually worked! I found a practical use out of it just by shrinking it down! I am a genius!"

"You're a moron," said Shikamaru, slapping his forehead with his palm. "You realise now you've probably just made him really angry rather than actually hurting him?"

Naruto froze. "Shit. Well maybe my whole jounin seal bullshit might scare him off?"

A torrent of sand flew in through the window the two jumped out of the way, only for it to twist and go after them. Naruto kicked up the chair to block it path, only for the sand to consume and rip it apart.

With the amount of free space in the room rapidly decreasing, the two were forced to follow Gaara out the window, jumping down to the ground outside where he awaited them.

"Okay, now if we want to get out of this alive-" Shikamaru started, but Naruto only outstretched his hands. It was already a cloudy day, he didn't have to worry about figuring out a Fire technique.

"Hey Gaara, tell me if the sky looks nice up there," Naruto laughed.

Running quickly through some seals the winds began to pick up around him. Gaara frowned, his own sand rising-

"What are you kids doing?"

The winds and sand fell, all three genin looking up to see Gai standing above them. "That's enough. If you've got any bad blood, settle it in the stadium next week. I understand that short tempers are a sign of youth, but one must learn to control it for maximum youth."

Gaara hissed, and disappeared into sand.

"Don't think we'll be seeing him again," said Gai. "Is Lee okay?"

"Yeah," said Naruto, looking back to the window. "Huh, is that Sakura-chan? Giving Lee flowers?"

"Who knew getting your armed crushed attracted ladies." Shikamaru mumbled blandly.

Gai turned to face Lee's room and gave it a thumbs up. "Good work my boy, pulling them in even when you're asleep. Didn't I tell you that bowl cut works wonders? You'll have to run at least two hundred laps to atone for doubting me when you've recovered."

"Well, that's enough of that. I'm going back to not preparing for the exams and watching clouds." Shikamaru said raising a hand in farewell. "And thanks, Gai. You really helped us out."

"Yeah, thanks," Naruto agreed, as Shikamaru walked off. "But Gai-sensei, I was wondering if you could help me out with my taijutsu."

Gai looked curious, even if somewhat reluctant. "You want to learn the Iron Fist?"

"No, I just wanted a sparring partner," said Naruto.

"Me?" Gai laughed. "The flames of your youth burn brightly indeed, but i'm fraid you don't understand fully what your asking."

"I need a sparring partner," said Naruto. "Practising taijutsu without being in a fight is like trying to learn how to swim on dry land. And I can't get any better unless I'm fighting a tougher opponent."

Gai looked surprised for a moment, and then his eyes were brimming with tears. "Naruto-kun! You will truly make a great shinobi one day! Though i'm afraid to honor my youthful student Neji I must refuse! HOWEVER I would never leave such a youthful soul without guidance. Instead of myself you shall train under my youthful student Tenten!"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but couldn't as Gai pounced down from the post and dragged him off.

* * *

"Tenten! MY ever youthful student, a new training opportunity has appeared from young Naruto-kun!"

Tenten who appeared as though she had just woken up, had only just opened her apartment door and given no pause Gai had already begun speaking.

"Gai-sensei I don't really think-" Naruto began.

"You will from now on and until the final exam be fighting him! He will give you pointers where he sees you need them and you will do the same. **Gai out**!" In semblance with his words he backflipped off the complex and disappeared into smoke in a rather impressive manner.

"They really ought to teach us genin that trick." Naruto remarked gaze resting on the still disappaiting smoke.

Tenten nodded half heardetly. "Yeah pretty cool...So if were actually doing this whole training thing lets just say you come back in like…" She glanced back inside for a minute squinting at what Naruto assumed was clock. "1, and then well see what happens."

Naruto nodded eyes mirthful. "Sorry for overstepping. I was hoping to get Gai's help with Taijutus I didn't know he'd barge into your house like this!"

"Trust me this isn't the first time. You get used to it, or at least used to it as much as possible." She said though it was clear she rather not be speaking anymore.

"I'll leave you to your sleep then bye!"


	4. Chapter 4: The clash of the Egos

"And that makes fifty-nine wins for me and zero wins for you," said Tenten cheerfully, as Naruto finally regained consciousness after having been beaten soundly for the fifty-ninth time that week.

They'd had a week. Tenten had insisted that Naruto spend the last day resting and recuperating so he would be in peak condition for his fight against Neji, and so they would have ten spars on each of the six days they had left.

Those spars typically just consisted of Naruto getting his ass kicked.

Still, he knew he was improving. The time it took Tenten to kick his ass had been steadily increasing throughout the week, and he'd actually started getting hits in on her halfway through the fifth day.

Although that didn't stop how embarrassing it was.

Naruto lay there flat on his back, rubbing one of the bruises on his face. Although Tenten mainly used weapons she had proven herself incredibly competent in Taijutsu. On the first spar (how long ago that seemed), Tenten had one hit KO'd him and nearly dislocated his jaw in the process.

"Come on kid, get up! I am not letting you wait out this spar!"

Naruto groaned as he finally managed to climb to his feet. The blonde was beginning to realize he was rather incompetent, knowing Minato's taijutsu didn't honestly help when his body was so different.

Both of them took up their stances, Tenten taking her standard Iron Fist stance, and Naruto a simple guard stance, both hands raised, his right hand ahead of his left.

Tenten attacked with a ballerina's elegance and a wolf's ferocity. There was a certain control she had over her body, and the space between her opponents Lee just didn't. He may have been faster and stronger, and probably understood the style better. But Tenten, she had made it her own. Unlike Lee, she wasn't constantly in motion moving from one spot to the other. She attacked the opponent from a distance with long kicks and punches constantly leaving space between her and themselves. With nunchucks or tonfus he could already picture the sheer death that would unfold.

The battle started with her delivering a quick set of punches that broke through Naruto's guard and left him with several hits in the chest. Instead of pressing his advantage, he stepped back, jogging on the spot.

"Come on Naruto-kun, too chicken to fight back!"

Naruto took up his stance again, and as Tenten approached, calm confidence and steady unworried speed, he quickly realized what she was planning.

He ducked under the first kick that would've smashed into his face, but he continued moving even as Tenten's leg was just above him, ready to counter.

He grabbed the leg mid-air smashing Tenten into the ground with as much strength as he could muster accidentally allowing a slight bit of chakra into his arms.

He realized his mistake as a crater was made with Tenten's back.

"Crap- sorry Tenten," said Naruto, realizing that he had completely overdone it. He could almost feel his father's disapproval.

"It's- it's alright!" Tenten placated rolling on the ground, her eyes screwed up in pain. "Just didn't- see it coming."

"Maybe we should call it quits for today?" He offered.

Tenten rose from the ground rolling her shoulder to relieve the pain. "Sounds good to me. Hmmm… I'm not good at all that emotional teacher-student stuff, but you've been a well, pretty good student. So I hope you do well in the tournament...And since you hurt me earlier you owe me lunch after the tournament!" She shouted though there was a slight dusting of red under her cheeks as she proceeded to storm off.

Naruto was left slightly confused.

* * *

A day later saw Naruto relaxing in the bathhouse. "Aw, that's good," he breathed, as he fell back into the warm waters, eyes closed.

"Oi, what are you doing there?" gasped a familiar voice.

Naruto opened his eyes to see Jiraiya perched on the roof of the bathhouse. "So you were messing around here for the whole month instead of training me?"

"I wasn't just here, I have many things to do with my time," Jiraiya replied. "So Naruto, shouldn't you be getting ready for that fight of yours with the Hyuga kid tomorrow?"

"I'm taking a day off to relax," Naruto said. "Now shove off or I'm gonna tell the women you've been spying on them."

Jiraiya grinned, unfazed by the threat. "A day off to relax? Kid, you've come to the right place."

Already knowing what Jiraiya's plans were when it came to relaxing, Naruto scowled. "I'm not in the mood to get liquored up and dropped off at a brothel. I've got a fight tomorrow."

"I just don't understand what's with you kids these days, back in the day they would have jumped at the chance for girls and alcohol!" Jiraiya lamented.

"Nothing's more boring than an old man talking about the days of his youth," Naruto said, stretching his arms above his head.

Jiraiya scratched his chin, eyes narrowing. "Huh, I'll have to give you that one. But back to the point at hand kid, I'm not saying you have to get wasted. How about you show me what you've learned, I give you a helping hand and then we go have a couple of drinks? No one gets drunk after a beer."

"Well…" Naruto paused. Having Jiraiya's help a little with his Tornado Fist wouldn't be too bad an idea. And frankly, the only danger he could see would be if Jiraiya ran off and left him to cover the bill- something he probably would do, actually.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto awoke with the worst headache of his life and the sickening taste of beer sticking to his tongue with building nausea. He groaned and looked over to his alarm clock.

His scream was heard through all of Konoha.

* * *

Naruto ran through the streets, in a dazed panic toward the stadium. He was going to murder Jiraiya after these damn exams.

Fortunately enough, he was still in his clothes, but he hadn't had enough time to shower or brush his teeth. He'd eaten half a packet of mints, which at least fixed the problem of his breath, but there was still the present stench of alcohol clinging to his clothes.

The stadium loomed ahead of him, and he continued running. There were thankfully few people around, but that meant all the spectators were already in, so the fights were about to start. And his and Neji's was supposed to be first.

He entered the passage that led inside the stadium, and just as his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he had run all the way through, blinking like a mole as a result of the sun in his face.

The other genin were still lined up, with a jounin standing by them, evidently the referee. He sighed with relief, he wasn't late. It was only as he walked over to the others when he realized that there were others missing.

"Hey Shikamaru," said Naruto. "Has Sasuke not shown up?"

"Nope," Shikamaru replied. "Neither has that Dosu guy I was supposed to be fighting. How troublesome."

Naruto looked over at Gaara, and Shikamaru followed his gaze. "Anyway, Sasuke had better of learned something special if he wants to stand a chance against that guy," Shikamaru muttered, his voice oddly serious.

The jounin Genma picked at his teeth with his senbon. "Have you been drinking?" He asked Naruto, and all the other genin looked around at him, wondering where that smell was coming from. "You're underage, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Say shouldn't those fights of ours have started by now?" Naruto asked.

Genma tilted his head. "Yeah, suppose so. Crowd getting pretty impatient. Alright, everyone except Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji up to the competitor's box."

A cheer awoke in the audience as they realized the fights were finally starting. Naruto and Neji separated, walking away from each other to give them both some distance before they turned around.

"Accept your fate to lose at my hands," Neji demanded, eyes cold and voice colder.

"Fun idea, I'll give it some thought after I beat your ass," Naruto replied, a faux smile covering his entire face.

"Good, good, pre-match taunts, always in the spirit" Genma noted lazily. "Well, put on a good show."

Naruto raised his fists, his right hand ahead of his left. Neji activated his Byakugan, before slipping into the offensive stance of the Hyuuga.

"Begin!"

Neji shot forwards like a cork from a bottle, his in motion to deliver his palm strike.

If Naruto had learned one thing from Minato and Tenten It was timing. He wasn't better at taijutsu then Kiba or Tenten, or even Neji. It was all about picking out the perfect moment, the moment they couldn't see.

Naruto's right hand grabbed Neji's arm. He spun into the Hyuuga, slamming his left elbow into the older boy's side before he could strike with his left hand. And with the other, flipped him over his shoulder.

The Hyuuga landed on his back, but Naruto didn't wait for him to get up. He crouched, and started pummelling Neji's face with both hands, the Hyuuga quickly covered his head. Forcing Naruto to move to punch his chest, Neji countered blindly swinging his legs into Naruto's side forcing the boy off his onslaught.

Naruto shifted into a defensive stance as Neji rose, an ugly look maring his face. A bruise noticeably forming on his starch pale skin.

"What happened to that single move stuff Neji?" Naruto asked. "I don't think getting flipped onto your ass was what fate told you."

Neji rubbed his bruise with a knuckle, before taking up a different stance. He said nothing, choosing to instead glare intently at the blonde. This time, he was going to be serious.

* * *

Sakura and Ino were watching the fight with the utmost shock upon their faces, while Kiba and Hinata were in the row behind them, equally stunned. He was managing to fend off Neji, who up until this point, had been viewed as the strongest Konoha genin in the competition.

"What's going on?" Ino said. "When did Naruto get so good at taijutsu?"

"That would be due to yours truly."

The genin looked back to see smirking Tenten followed closely behind by a hobbling Lee on his crutches.

Lee took a seat in the row behind them. "I'm surprised you managed to impart so much upon him in such a short time Tenten-chan, when I heard from sensei you'd be training with him I certainly expected improvement but he's fighting in an entirely different way since when I fought him at the beginning of the exams."

"Wait, Naruto was trained by you?" Sakura asked, eyeing Tenten with perplexity.

"What can I say? I'm a pretty amazing teacher! But really, I don't have much experience teaching but he was a pretty fast learner. Scarily fast even but he never actually beat me. But that was purely without chakra, with it he's a monster." Tenten explained a look of pride on her face as she gazed out at the arena.

"But Naruto's not using the Iron Fist, is he?" wondered Sakura, vaguely recalling what Lee's attacks looked like from the occasions she had seen him fight.

"No, not exactly. The way he fights seems more based off the knowledge of general taijutsu rather than the actual iron first style," Lee observed. "But that is the mystery."

"Mind explaining what you're talking about?" Ino asked.

"To be able to do what Naruto-kun is doing would obviously require extensive knowledge of several taijutsu styles," said Lee. "Maybe not full mastery, but he'd have to know them well. But the only way that could be possible would be if he'd been training for years, or studying multiple different styles overtime. Considering both Naruto-kun's age and the fact he displayed no skill in taijutsu before this fight seems quite impossible."

"What about when he beat Kiba?" Sakura asked.

Lee thought back to the preliminaries. "That's true. But even so, his movements were nowhere near as advanced as they are now."

Tenten frowned. "Naruto is good at understanding the right time to strike, and sure he's good at comprehending correct moves to make up decent counters and attacks I wouldn't go as far as to say he has some other worldly knowledge of taijutsu...that's just not possible.."

"Well he can't be an imposter with Neji's eyes so...He must be Naruto's evil twin!" Ino declared.

"Either way I still wouldn't bet on Naruto, Neji still hasn't shown off his most powerful technique." Lee ventured his eyes firmly on said shinobi completely ignoring Ino's words.

Tenten herself frowned at the prospect, eyes lingering on Lee but she held in any response she may have had knowing his words held true.

* * *

Neji was shaking with fatigue and frustration, had one so weak gotten so strong?

Naruto looked on strongly at Neji, a grin boldly displayed on his face A trickle of blood running down his lip. His hands raised quickly forming the seal of the jutsu he was best known for

Neji caught his breath. He'd originally thought that Naruto's Shadow Clones would be of no consequence; he'd easily be able to defend himself from a horde of brawlers with little fighting skill, but an army of capable-

In swift motion, Naruto leaned forward fire shooting from his mouth catching the cocky Hyuuga completely off guard. Cocking his head back and body low he managed to escape with just singed hair.

Naruto capitalizing on Neji's state pounced forward before stumbling off clutching his head.

Neji attacked, wasting no time at the sign of weakness. But ease, Naruto weaved around his palm thrusts.

"Flow like water," Naruto murmured, before kicking Neji's right knee.

Drawing to a kneel in pain Neji darted back on just his left leg.

"Your taijutsu is impressive, Neji, but there's quite a bit of unnecessary movement. You tend to put to little power into your strikes, instead focusing too much on hitting the tenketsu points."

"Are you trying to instruct me?" Neji's voice came as a low hiss.

Hinata had made Neji lose control in her fight with him, but she'd paid the price and nearly gotten killed for it. Naruto was playing a dangerous game here, at the end of things; he'd still only trained his taijutsu for a couple of weeks whereas Neji had been training his style since he'd been old enough to breathe.

"Of course I am, It's our duty to assist fellow Konoha nin in any way possible." Naruto deigned. Shifting into an approximation of a style Neji knew all too well. His own stance.

Neji clenched his fists. Feeling his hard-worked callouses dig into his curled finger and the blood of either himself or the enemy before him mix with the sweat across his body. He breathed deep releasing in a long drawl, this was an insult on all possible fronts that he simply could not stand. "As expected of the student of the Copy-nin," he seethed, matching the stance. "Let me return your earlier favor by instructing you on how to use it."

The Hyuuga jumped forwards, delivering a flurry of palm strikes. Naruto in his own bastardized version matched each and every one of them, loudly criticizing Neji's technique as he did so.

"Your arm is too rigid."

"You should only make rapid multiple attacks while my guard is down otherwise you waste energy."

"You're still not putting enough power into it."

"You can't hit my tenketsu while I'm blocking you like this, you have to adapt and think of a new strategy."

Neji growled as he managed to finally slip past Naruto's guard with pure speed, his palm smashing into Naruto's chin. Before he could take advantage, Naruto fell back, rotating around in the air. He landed on his hands, and propelled himself off the ground, his feet on target for Neji's chest.

Neji's palms connected with the soles of Naruto's sandals, and pushed forwards, to cause Naruto to roll backwards and put some distance between them.

He'd managed to hit Naruto in the jaw mere moments ago. Naruto had recovered admirably, but even so, a hit was a hit. It meant he was still faster than Naruto, and it was clear the boy was no master of taijutsu so the reason Naruto was he was stopping his attacks must be because he somehow knew how to counter his clan taijutsu-

Then it came to him.

Neji smiled as he moved into the same stance he had started the fight with.

Neji rushed forwards; once again, his right hand brought back to deliver his palm strike. Naruto frowned, readying himself to counter it-

Neji moved at the last second, delivering a kick square in Naruto's chest.

The blonde staggered back, gasping for air, and Neji seized his chance, attacking with quick jabs to seal his tenketsu. While Naruto managed to weakly fend off most of his attacks, Neji still hit several.

And then the Hyuuga completely broke Naruto's guard with the sheer number and ferocity of his palm strikes. He landed constant hit after hit, abandoning all attempts at finesse for brutality.

Naruto's battered arms went up, grabbing Neji's head with his fingers, his thumbs stabbing at his eyes.

Neji shrieked with pain, his eyelids having snapped shut on reflex, before he regained his senses and delivered a double palm strike to Naruto's chest, sending his attacker crashing back several meters.

Naruto struggled onto his feet, Neji long past rude remark remained silent, his intention clear. Trying to damage the eyes of a Hyuuga was an insult that made copying their taijutsu look trivial.

The blonde shook his head as he wiped some blood away that was leaking from his nostrils- the result of one too many strikes to the face. "Well you know, anything goes," he said, his grin reappearing. "I figured that'd get you to stop. So, did you see it, Neji?"

Neji ignored him. "Surrender now. I've hit enough of your tenketsu- and if we continue, I'll pay you back for trying to harm my eyes. You're nothing more than a dropout, and although you may have gotten a few lucky hits on me, you've had no chance since the moment it was decided you would be my opponent."

"You didn't answer me," Naruto recounted. "Didn't you realize? The moment you stopped rigidly obeying your clan's taijutsu, you started winning. What could that mean? Maybe sometimes rules-"

"Don't waste my time. Surrender or die."

"Well, I'm afraid I'm not too keen on those options, I'm quite keen on winning myself, would you like to surrender?"

Neji's frown told him all he needed to know.

"Right, so you're not going to surrender. So that means if I want to win, I'd have to beat the shit out of you. Is that okay? My options now are surrendering, dying, or beating the shit out of you. Hmm…tricky choices, but I think I'm gonna go with Option C and beat the shit out of you."

Naruto rolled up the sleeves on his jacket and raised his fists again.

* * *

"Go on, Naruto's evil twin!" Ino and Kiba cheered.

"For Gosh's sake Ino," said Sakura, her face in her hands as people started staring at them.

"Why Naruto and not Neji?" Tenten quired an odd look on her face.

"He's not as good as I thought," Lee exclaimed.

"Who, Neji?" Sakura asked.

"No. Naruto-kun," Lee indulged. "I didn't see it at first, but Naruto's not quite as skilled as I thought. There are many flaws in his movements, a lot of clumsiness, it's like he thinks he's working at a different height sometimes. The only reason Neji hasn't capitalized on it yet is because he's unfamiliar with Naruto's taijutsu."

"So that means-"

"If Naruto-kun doesn't win soon Neji will eventually see through him," Lee explained, "The longer this fight goes on, the greater chance Neji has at winning."

"Hey, pipe down in front," said Kiba. "I'm trying to watch these two beat the crap out of each other."

"I don't know, I helped train Naruto and I never thought he'd do this well. I'm starting to think we shouldn't count him out so soon." Tenten cautioned.

* * *

It was becoming increasingly clear to the spectators to how this fight was working, Naruto had the upper edge when Neji used his taijutsu style because he knew how it worked, which forced Neji to incorporate more unorthodox ways of attack, which although worked, were eventually countered or withstood by Naruto due to Neji's lack of familiarity with diverting.

The fight had to end soon. They were both bloodied and battered, and there were still more matches to be had after all.

In silent, mutual consent, the two stepped back further, both looking away from their opponent. Naruto shook his legs off, before stretching them again, while Neji stretched his arms.

As Naji finished he looked to Naruto before nodding. Immediately he felt blunt impact collide with his chest, sending him staggering. Neji brought his elbows down to shield and counter against the rest of Naruto's blows.

"You're slowing down, Neji," Naruto remarked.

"It's over, I will not hold back on you any longer. You have at least earned that in this fight."

"Hmm...Alright, I accept your declaration and I promise to return with my own best efforts."

"Oh?" Neji said, stepping forwards. "You are in range of my divination."

The last thing Naruto thought before Neji relentlessly set upon him with the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms technique was that his father's memories had failed him.

Branch members weren't supposed to know that.

Naruto's right arm hung limply by his side, near completely useless. His left was still usable, barely. He'd managed to try and avoid some of the hits, but not enough, Neji was simply too fast and too powerful.

"It's over," Neji gasped his words holding surprising relief.

Naruto managed to laugh. But the struggling rasping sound it came out proved it must have hurt. "Heh. I guess it was just too ridiculous to spend a couple of weeks training taijutsu and hoping I could bring down someone who'd trained all their life."

"That should've been obvious," said Neji. "But just one question. How did you get so much stronger in such a short time?"

"Well, I've got the knowledge of the Yondaime Hokage in my head," Naruto revealed teasingly.

Neji scoffed. "If you're going to tell me such nonsense, you may as well have just stayed silent."

'Come on, there has to be a way out of this. I won't let that month have been wasted a wasted effort' He was hoping not to reveal his new technique this early on in the tournament but if it came down to it...

"Surrender. Or I beat you bloody."

Naruto released a light breath. He finally had it. An idea that just might work. "Go ahead."

Neji moved so fluidly it was as though he had expected it. As smoothly as a wound-up spring being released again.

His target moved; turning a little- and that was it.

The blow sent Naruto crashing back, and he nearly fell over, instead, going down onto one knee. He climbed back up, but Neji realized what he had done.

"You still took the hit," said Neji. "But you moved just by that fraction to prevent it from hitting your pressure point, knocking you out and losing the match."

Naruto grinned.

"You've already lost the match. Just accept it."

Neji moved, even faster. He'd gone around Naruto- and went for a spot on the back of his neck that would temporarily block his windpipe and cause Naruto to pass out from air loss.

Naruto just managed to move again, hopping to the side so that the blow hit him on his right shoulder.

Fortunately, that arm was already out of action.

"I'll give you one last chance," said Neji. "Next time will be the last time I try and end it with one blow. After that, I'll just go all out on you."

"I'm counting on it," Naruto relayed, turning to face Neji.

"What do you get from this?" Neji asked as he raised his hand. "What do you seek to accomplish by fighting on at this point? There will be other chances to be promoted to chuunin. Why do you struggle against your fate when the outcome is clear?"

"Surrendering now would only prove me unworthy of holding such a title. I must fight on, if only just to prove it to myself."

"How do you intend to do so? You can't beat me in taijutsu. You can't use any ninjutsu. And even if you were skilled enough in genjutsu to wield it at this stage, I'd see through it."

"Interesting," Naruto marveled. "Before you just seemed to have that attitude of 'only an idiot struggles against fate', why are you so interested now?"

"You are not the same person I saw a month ago," Neji relented. "That much is clear."

"I have seen your taijutsu,"

"You seem to run almost entirely on muscle memory rather than thinking about your movements. To have trained yourself so intensively in a month..."

Naruto didn't say anything, content to listen. If anything, he was still impressed by Neji's analytical skills, but then again, the Hyuuga was remarkably skilled with taijutsu himself and happened to train with Konoha's taijutsu expert, even if his words weren't wholly accurate.

Although Neji hadn't picked up on the slight clumsiness, as a result of…well, body dysphoria. He'd been avoiding kicks or lunges as he knew he'd probably overbalance himself.

"Your attempts to rile me earlier, criticizing and imitating my skills, attacking my eyes- because you knew you still could not defeat me in an equal taijutsu battle. You are clearly intelligent enough to know when you cannot win. As such, you are not a fool."

"Well, the jury's still out on that one," Naruto mused.

"Why do you fight when you know that you will lose? When the fight itself is near meaningless?"

"Maybe because I'm trying to prove something to you."

"That you cannot escape your fate no matter how hard you struggle against it?"

Naruto smiled. "Neji, you talk too much. Now, let me tell you something by myself. Maybe I'm still barely capable of standing, with a right arm that won't move. Or maybe, while you were talking, I've just been buying myself some time to start regaining the use of my arms-"

Neji leaped forwards, intent on sealing the fight there.

His right palm was blocked by Naruto's right arm. His Left hand grasping his right, raising the arm across his torso as a shield. And then he released it-seizing Neji by the shoulder, pulling him close.

Neji's free hand shot up as Naruto pulled his head back.

Naruto's forehead smashed into Neji's, the two grappling as another left palm struck Naruto's chest.

And then they finally dropped to the ground.

* * *

"I'm telling you, I'm okay, I just needed a little rest," Naruto assured the med-nin.

The boys had been stretchered out of the arena to thunderous applause. The match had been ruled a draw and thus both genin were out. Naruto was still fairly annoyed, he blamed it on Jiraiya, whose brilliant idea last night had left him with a hangover so painful he was having trouble focusing his chakra to form his Shadow Clones.

"You were hit by the Jyuuken, you could have internal damage that may only come forwards later-" Nurse began.

"Alright I concede, Neji did give me internal damage that will only come forward later?"

"Noo," Neji groaned out from his bed. His lack of accelerated healing leaving still too exhausted to rise.

"There you go," Naruto declared stretching his arms out in victory.

The med-nin sighed. "Fine, let me just go and consult a doctor first. Wait here."

Naruto hopped out of bed as the med-nin left. "You okay, Neji?"

Neji looked up at the ceiling, not answering for a while as he lay in silent thought. "How did you do it?" He finally said. "I was still stronger than you in taijutsu, I attacked you with my Sixty-Four Palms, and yet you still managed to prove yourself to be my equal."

"Oh? Equals are we?"

Neji looked over at him, his face stretched into a scowl. "I'd be a fool to think otherwise. Tactics-wise, you had me from the start. If not for my Sixty-Four Palms- hmm, I should've used Kaiten at some point-"

"Hold on," Naruto began raising his hand. "You know Kaiten too?"

Neji smirked.

"Will have to have a rematch then."

"One month from today," Neji answered immediately, evidently having already thought about it himself. "Seems fair?"

"Deal," Naruto grabbed Neji's hand and enthusiastically shook it. "Hey, I'll give you a palm reading…ah; it says you're fated to lose."

Neji rolled his eyes. "If you could escape your fate today, then I will escape mine."

Naruto smiled to himself, as the med-nin came back to release him. Today had been fun. Getting promoted almost didn't matter. The boy who'd looked down on him not a scant month ago now called him an equal. It was a rewarding experience.

Now he wasn't Hokage long enough to ever proceed over a chunin exams, but at the risk of sounding arrogant, he had quite a fine showing. Showcasing both tactics and form.

As he left the room, he bumped into the Hyuuga elder Hiashi. Naruto's small smile grew as he excused himself, heading towards the stands.

* * *

A/N: And there we come to the end of the pre-written content. Wow, this was most definitely the most annoying chapter to edit. I had to stretch my mind so far just to try and get rid of the majority of the said's plaguing the original! And the fight scene...my gosh was that a hassle. Naruto was especially annoying to write for this chapter. The original dialogue of this chapter he seemed far too original Naruto, with far less tact and in general not as eloquent words that it just didn't line up with the way he talked in previous chapters. I think that still kinda lingers throughout but I tried to doctor it!

And then there was writing for Tenten. Originally he trained with Gai, but I've always been a fan of expanding upon Tenten's character and found the idea of his training with his opponent's sensei kinda odd. Writing her was much harder than I initially thought it would be. In my effort to expand her I ended up minimizing Sakura and the other rookies, something I'll have to rectify in the next chapter. Until next time!


	5. Chapter 5: Snakes in hard places

Shikamaru's fight though nowhere near as exciting as Naruto and Neji's was a fair bit more enjoyable to watch. Seeing the rotten sand witch get outsmarted and utterly beat was exactly what she needed after the intensity of the last fight.

She released a content sigh leaning back in her seat, glancing over to Lee. "What do you think?"

"It was unyouthful of Shikamaru to forfeit...but very impressive on his part." Lee answered, his gaze still rested on the arena watching the two leave for the stands. "But I must admit i'm excited for the upcoming battle. "

Tenten nodded, it wasn't all that surprising he'd be invested. After what Gaara had done to him he must of been wanting to see the crazy redhead get beat up, even if he wouldn't admit it. She had her doubts Sasuke actually could of course, Lee had beaten him already so it was doubtful someone Lee beat could beat someone Lee couldn't. He would have had to of done some extensive training to be even semi comparable to Gaara.

It was a disappointing truth but it seemed unavoidable that Gaara came out the winner of this year's chunin exams.

"Hey guys!" A cheery voice rang. She turned to see the visage of Naruto looking more than a little worse for wear. His blonde locks were left falling over his head without his usual headband to keep it up, bandages visible through his bangs. His face was similarly bruised up but nothing really worth the notice of a doctor. He stood tall in the doorway, gaze steady and face the picture of calm, a slight grin tugging at his lips. It was a stark contrast to the boy she had met the first day of the exams who smiled too wide and talked too big.

She realized she had been staring too long as he curiously looked back, vibrant azure eyes meeting dull brown. Tenten felt her entire face heat up, looking away was like admitting she was embarrassed instead she smiled and offered a thumbs up.

It seemed to sedate his curiosity as he turned to regard the boy walking toward him.

"That was some damn good fighting Uzumaki! I knew you had some skill when you managed to surprise me last time but kicking that Hyuga's ass was really something else! Good to see him get his dues after what he did to Hinata. But you do owe me another fight sometime!" Kiba grinned, slapping Naruto on the back eagerly.

The blonde's eyes widened for a second before he released a light laugh. "Well that makes two people looking for a re-match, guess i'm becoming a pretty popular fighter."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't say drawing so much attention is really a good thing being a ninja and all." She drawled though Tenten could tell she was only teasing.

"Having so many people in your own village looking to fight you definitely can't be a good thing." Tenten chimed in grinning in earnest. "Of course you've still yet to actually beat me!"

"What! Yes I did the last time we fought-

"That's not true you cheated!"

"I did not, you-

"Where's Sasuke?" Ino interrupted.

Tenten glowered at the sound of the girl's voice breaking her from ribbing the Uzumaki. She groaned under her breath, but her curiosity held out over annoyance. The brunette hadn't seen Sasuke in the competitors booth at all, she figured he was just lurking somewhere else like his creepy one eyed sensei also seemed too.

She found herself turning to look to the two members of team 7 in question, and tepidly noticed all the others had as well.

Naruto, seemingly surprised by them differing to him, shrugged. "Haven't seen him since the second exam. Last I heard he was training with sensei out of the village." Sakura looked dazed.

"I didn't even know that much, sensei just told me not to bug him until after the exam." Sakura admitted reluctantly.

"Damn Kurenai sensei has still been training me," he glanced over toward Hinata inclusively,"and checking up Hinata. I mean sure she's focusing more on Shino but he is the one competing." Kiba explained sympathetically.

"Yeah, Asuma sensei's been training all three of us. Shikamaru's just been training more with his dad for the exam." Ino added.

"Gai sensei has been checking up on me everyday." Lee mused.

"Gai had me train with Naruto." Tenten teasingly put in eyeing Naruto happily whose expression had become progressively more frosty at each sentence spoken in their sensei's favour.

Subtly the two teammates met eyes of indignation firing up all at once. "How did we end up with the laziest sensei ever!" Naruto snapped.

"Out of all the sensei's! And he didn't even try!" Sakura shouted.

Tenten unable to help herself burst into a furious set of giggles at their expense.

Her laughter was like the breaking of a dam, all the other rookies breaking into laughter after the young weapons specialist.

"Seriously where is the Uchiha, he's gonna miss the match at this rate." Naruto not so subtly changed the subject.

Deciding to spare him Tenten finally forced her laughter down. "Well it's probably for the best, I rather not see that Gaara guy fight anyone else after he-" she realized her words and glanced at Lee who looked back at her expectantly. "..well you know," she finished lamely face even redder than earlier all amusement now gone from her face.

Lee held her eyes a moment longer before outwardly giving up with a long sigh. "**I**," he emphasized**.**"would personally like to see the fight. _Not that I hold any grudge against Gaara_."

Tenten shivered at his cold words obviously directed at her. Naruto rested an understanding hand on her shoulder. She beamed under his touch.

…

Genma groaned, what was it with kids and not making it to their fights? The Dosu kid had already skipped out. The Kazekage had made it clear to the Hokage who had made it clear to him that this was the most anticipated fight of the exams. And the audience was also currently making it clear that they didn't have infinite patience. He cringed inwardly at the unsettled audience, there was little he could do, he was in no habit of upsetting Kage.

But with little else to do he at least appeases the audience's desire by falsely threatening. "If Sasuke Uchiha doesn't soon step forward we will be forced to call the match in favour of Gaara-"

Before Genma could finish his sentence a ploof of smoke erupted in the middle of the stadium revealing a hunched over Kakashi and annoyed Sasuke.

Somehow Genma wasn't surprised Kakashi waited to make a big entrance. "Nevermind." he mumbled before thrusting his hand out in the direction of Sasuke. "Sasuke Uchiha."

He turned to Kakashi with a glare. Understanding the Copy nin dispersed once more.

"Begin!"

…

Hiruzen had always been good focusing on the bigger picture, it made it easier to be Hokage. Ignoring the little things is what made it so he could get up each morning and keep doing his job. But he coudn't bring hismelf to focus on the fight, a quite almost indistinguishable sound had caught his attention. It was so very annoying and he cound't place it. It was almost like the sand in an hourglass falling.

Shaking his head, his eyes returned back to the fight.

…

A horrifying screech filled the stadium, the sand nin losing himself in pain.

Sasuke wrenched his hand back from the horrifying boy before him. He felt his body tense up, slowly he felt a great weight creep upon him forcing him still. His breathing quickened.

It was just like in wave. Knowing the person before you had EVERY intention to murder you, no matter how ingraiend as a ninja was a horrible feeling on its own but one he could get over. But Gaara he was different, the force he was releasing was of a whole other level.

His sharigan flashed up catching the incoming of a large clum of sand toward his person. With a greater force than Sasuke had ever used in the past he forced his body to flip back. Landing with a little to much force on his left foot he launched a stream of fire back at the sand monster taking Garra's place.

He was about to launch another with suddenly the entire stadium quieted. He hadn't been paying them any mind thus far but their silence spoke far more than their words. Looking up he was horrified to see thousands of white feathers lulling the populace to sleep. "What the hell is going on!"

And all it once it all crumbled to pieces. Smoke erupted in the stadium and with it the battle.

…

Hiruzen felt a strange creeping sensation on his back. He sprung up eyes not leaving the Kazekage's dull glare.

"I have nothing personally against you Hiruzen. But your ninja have left mine little choice." Rasa began before flexing his fingers, causing Hiruzen's back to flash pain.

Eyes widening he realized just what it was he had felt. Throwing off his robes revealed his entire back covered in Golden Dust!

The anbu began leaping down around them but were met instead by the same golden grain, swallowing them up completely. '_The entire time, he has been filling the area with the dust! The entire area is his weapon!"_ Hiruzen put together.

He closed his eyes and focused on the moisture in the air and with a stomp of his foot drenched himself in water. He raised his hands forming a simple OXE hand sign: rushing waves generated around. Directing is hands downward the water followed slaming into the sand prisons freeing some of the anbu. With great distaste he noted he hadn't been in time for all of them.

"You'll pay for that Rasa." He cooly remarked, said Sand nin was launching toward him a gold cloud tendrils of gold forming bellowing him to strike.

Hiruzen in a quick fury of hand seals released a _**Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet **_from his mouth directly at his opponent. Rasa in an impressive moment forced himself downward crashing into the ground and back onto his feet, his cloud dispersing onto the floor.

Though during all the moment the Hokage had neglected the tendril which he realized as he found himself submerged in darkness had just found their target.

…

Sound nin began to file in led by a pale black haired man. He walked with an air of authority and control not even Rasa himself could manage.

"Thank you for stalling for me Rasa-_Dono_. It has allowed me perfect time for preparation." Orochimaru remarked as he stepepd beside the Kazekage. His men lugging three corpses with them, annoyingly enough the three Orochimaru had originally intended to sacrifice had gotten mixed up before he could grab them.

Of course he was always up for improvising, and Rasa had been kind enough to allow him the chance. "I'll take it from here, you may lead your troops." The Kazekage scoffed, which Orochimaru decided to ignore. From his own ninja it would of illicated a more violent response but infighting would lead him nowhere. So instead he only nodded toward his troops who dropped the bodies and went on the offense against the remaining anbu.

Rasa taking a moment to regard the snake man one last time sighed before jumping from the ledge, his dust following in epic proportions, in the process the dust holding Hiruzen left with the Kage freeing him.

Orochimaru couldn't help but lick his lips at the prospect of such a useful Blood limit. His thoughts were interrupted by Hiruzen advancing towards him. "Ohayō Sensei!"

"I was expecting to see you but not in this fashion." The older man growled.

Orochimaru smirked in response, dodging the man's fist casually. "I thought I made my intentions very clear. Oh well I suppose attacking the last exam wasn't a big enough warning. I'll be sure to make it up to you!"

Curving his body backward he retreated back toward the corpses hands hurriedly mashing together. "How's talking to a few dead Hokage sound?"

* * *

**A/N: Alright well this was the first chapter fully written by me, and man did it take longer than I thought. I actually had a lot more but I still wasn't anywhere near finished so I figured I should end it now so I can get a new chapter out at a somewhat reasonable time. You may have noticed this is my first real chapter with perspective changes, though this isn't written in the first person it has center solely around Naruto thus far so writing for other people was a ton of fun, especially Tenten. It have me a much better idea of her character.**

**Also yes you read right, Rasa isn't dead. This story has shifted from a What if to a full on canon divergence. Sue me, things are gonna get a lot less canon from here on out. I find that too many fics rehash the same canon stuff and while im sure a Naruto fic where he has Minato's memories re treading canon could be entertaining im not the guy to write it.**

**I really enjoyed writing the short fight scene between Rasa and Hiruzen but I realized if I kept it up there would be no room for Orochimaru. Also I did not just give Rasa the Flying Nimbus, in one of the video games he flys on a golden dust cloud. **

**There was a lot more controversy over the Naruto Neji fight than I expected, as for my argument...well I think the Naruto of canon mostly won due to the nine tails which in this story he didn't use at all during the battle. Without it I don't think he really stood a chance, but that may be me just trying to reasonably power scale, because I refuse to believe the worst ninja of his year can beat the best of the previous year who had way more field experience and training. Instead of using the Kyubi he basically used Minato as well as Tenten to acclimate himself to taijutsu in his young body. ****I'm not saying this justifies the outcome but it is why I ultimately went with it. **

**Anyhow thanks for reading, expect the next chapter relatively soon but no promises!**


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